| |9 DECEMBER 2015HIGHERReviewThe Higher Education report has correctly identified a shortage of skills as a major challenge to the health sector. This is a global phe-nomenon and to address this issue in Bahrain will require further invest-ment as the health care sector is ex-pected to grow exponentially for the foreseeable future. Across the world, the greatest demand in health care is for specialists in centres of excel-lence. But, unfortunately in Bahrain, the dearth in specialist skills is hin-dering the growth of health services from transcending new directions. Such endemic problems in individ-ual countries can only be alleviated through collaborative working rela-tionships between health ministries, employers and universities. In some countries, expatriate nurses may be as high as 80 percent of the nursing workforce. The way forward lies in the gulf region which is experiencing indigenous growth through the edu-cation of nationals to achieve inter-national standards. Notably at RCSI, Bahrain, there has been a 150 percent increase in the number of young Bah-rainis entering nursing during the last ten years. Specialized education and training models has been bench marked by incorporating internation-al standards for the development of a post graduate surgical training pro-gramme and a post graduate specialist nursing programme too. Educational reform and curriculum review must be a constant in a vibrant university sector. The focus must not only be placed on skill-development, but also diverted to how they are applied. This aspect requires an increase in accom-panying student assessment to the reality of the workplace. The frame-work of applied learning and cur-riculum improvement is dependent on the close collaboration between various stakeholders. The current starting point for Bahrain is pretty low because the global competitive-ness index ranks Bahrain 121 globally for university and industry collabora-tion in 2014.The value of entrepreneurial education is clearly evident because it promotes creativity, innovation, and encourages the ability to organ-ize projects. Entrepreneurship and innovation is productive when it is underpinned by an inter-disciplinary approach. RCSI Bahrain has initiated educational developments which en-gage students in inter-professional learning by bringing medical and nursing students together for learn-ing and team work as a preparation for the reality of work environment. This has been extended to an interna-tional stage with selected medical and nursing students availing an interna-tional opportunity to work together on charity projects in different places such as Lesotho, Vietnam and Chen-nai. Central to creating a vibrant uni-versity sector is autonomy. Regula-tory systems and processes must be sophisticated enough to attain national standards. But, they must be sufficiently empowering for the numerous universities to facilitate rapid developments. Autonomy for a university is an honour to be earned through the pursuit of excellence by developing a reputation. This can be done by incorporating models of governance, accountability and transparency. The health sector in Bahrain is a regular employer of Bahraini University graduates. This not only meets national need, but also contributes to citizenship, welfare and the subsequent eco-nomic growth.Professor Seamus CowmanCameron Mirza
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